US Army OOB

MarkSheppard · #1 August 10th, 2006, 06:39 AM

Linka

(Snipping the full article to a short version)

August 8, 2006: All future MLRS rockets will be "smart" (GPS guided), and older, unguided rockets, will be upgraded to "smart" status.

...

There have been no reliability problems with the GMLRS, which has a range of 70 kilometers and, because of the GPS guidance, it has the same accuracy at any range. Unguided rockets become less accurate the farther they go.

What makes the GMLRS most useful is not just its accuracy, which is about the same as air force JDAM GPS guided smart bombs, but because the 200 pound GMLRS warhead produces a smaller bang than the smallest JDAM (500 pounds). When it comes to urban fighting, smaller is better. Less collateral damage, and your troops can be closer to the target when the explosion occurs.

....

In order to get more GMLRS, all new MLRS production is being switched to GMLRS, and a retrofit kit, that will turn unguided MLRS rockets into GMLRS, has been introduced. The army believes that GMLRS will remain the most useful smart weapon, even with the introduction, later this year, of the hundred pound 155mm GPS guided Excalibur artillery shell, and the U.S. Air Force's 250 pound JDAM (the SDB, or small diameter bomb).

MarkSheppard · #2 August 10th, 2006, 06:46 AM

From a Defense Analyst friend: Stuart Slade

MTHEL is actually doing quite well. My understanding is that the pre-production systems are due to be deployed in 2009, only a year behind schedule. They were going to go to Korea but I guess Iraq is a better bet now.

Basically, battlefield lasers will arrive pretty soon (at least for the US)

This has some game engine implications for WinMBT. You can actually now shoot down artillery shells and rockets in flight; I don't know how you could represent this, except as a special "counterbattery" class which can intercept rockets, etc.

pdoktar · #3 August 16th, 2006, 08:11 AM

I don�t know about smaller is better in urban environments.. collateral damage will occur anyway, so bigger is better at blowing up buildings and stronpoints etc.

IMO Destroying whole buildings with large charges is the best way to proceed anyhow.

Marcello · #4 August 16th, 2006, 05:23 PM

"Basically, battlefield lasers will arrive pretty soon (at least for the US)

This has some game engine implications for WinMBT. You can actually now shoot down artillery shells and rockets in flight; I don't know how you could represent this, except as a special "counterbattery" class which can intercept rockets, etc."

Tentatively, what's the doctrine for it?
Is it supposed to protect some high value target from artillery shells which were going to fall too close to it?
Because I have an hard time trying to imagine such system coping with a decent BM-21 barrage, for example.

whdonnelly · #5 August 16th, 2006, 05:53 PM

Based on current news from Afghanistan and northern Israel, there is still a long way to go for anti-missile missile or radar systems.
But from what I understand of doctrine, aerial platforms would give the widest area coverage as an operational or strategic level asset.

MarkSheppard · #6 August 21st, 2006, 05:33 AM

Anyway, it will be interesting to see US Army employment of guided artillery in the next version of MBT; you'll have artillery with unpreceedented accuracy, and the targeted Hex will become known as the "hex of death"

Marcello · #7 August 21st, 2006, 06:03 AM

Quote:

MarkSheppard said:
Anyway, it will be interesting to see US Army employment of guided artillery in the next version of MBT; you'll have artillery with unpreceedented accuracy, and the targeted Hex will become known as the "hex of death"

Are you saying that it will be possible to simulate the various Excalibur,Copperhead, Smel'chak and Krasnopol in the next SPMBT release?

JaM · #8 August 21st, 2006, 08:02 AM

It is possible now... Just make TOP Attack ATGM with HE warhead with stats of Copperhead and give it to FIST-V and FO units. Same effect with minimal chnges to the code...

MarkSheppard · #9 August 21st, 2006, 10:05 AM

Are you saying that it will be possible to simulate the various Excalibur,Copperhead, Smel'chak and Krasnopol in the next SPMBT release?

Well, Take US Weapon Slot 76

155mm M777 VT
It's got an accuracy of 10

Simply copy and paste it into a blank slot and rename it to

155mm GPS Guided
and give it an accuracy of 93 (Same as 1000 lb JDAM)

There are only about 15 weapons slots free in the US OOB though...so it's entirely possible that SPCAMO will decide to condense as many of the "guided" artillery shells into a single round for each major calibre; like 155mm Guided, 105mm Guided, etc.